KARACHI, April 28: Stocks on Wednesday again turned in a highly volatile performance as leading investors indulged in fresh unloading of their long positions on the overvalued counters but there was no matching buying offers at the falling prices.
The KSE index fell by 57.14 points at 5,369.43, wiping out Rs16bn from the market capital.
The decline was across the board and engulfed all the sector as everybody tried to cash in on at the available margins fearing the extension of the sell-off. Higher than market thinking dividend by both OGDC and Fauji Fertilizer seems to have saved the situation, although futures outlook still appears uncertain.
The big question being debated is whether or not the market will be back on the rails. The index's early plunge of 138 points has, however, sent shock waves among the investors and there were fears in some quarters that a virtual crash in an overbought has set in unannounced.
But thanks to above market expectations payout of 17.5 per cent and 32.5 per cent by the Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDC), Fertilizer giant Fauji Fertilizer respectively halted the market's further decline allowing bulls to re-enter at the lower levels. The P/E of the former is Rs3.85 and that of the latter at Rs2.75, both had already paid interim dividend.
The KSE 100-share index finally finished well above the day's lows, off 57.14 points at 5,369.43, the lowest and the highest being hit at 5,288.42 and 5,443.67 respectively.
The early sell-off was in part attributed to the prevailing turmoil on the Indian financial markets including bourses followed by reports that the Vajpayee government may not attain majority in the national elections.
"The negative fallout of the reports was visible in local trading amid fears that the tempo of current peace moves between the two neighbours initiated by respective governments may not be continued owing to change of regime in India," analysts said. However, good corporate results from the two leading mega issues saved the situation, although they fear "further prunings in the sessions to come because of a long-weekend ahead."
"I don't think there was any change in the corporate scenario," says a leading stock analyst commenting on the current turmoil on the bourse "the selling was inspired and initiated by the big ones to push prices lower and then to pick them up to adjust portfolios."
Hub-Power, which has been under pressure for the last couple of sessions on reports of free float from some of its sponsors and generator problems was back on the rails and joined the rank of trend-setters.
Minus signs again dominated the list, under the lead of some leading MNCs, notably Abbott Lab, Atlas Battery, Shell Gas, Siemens Pakistan, Arif Habib Securities and Unilever Pakistan, which suffered fall ranging from Rs6 to Rs50. Indus Motors, Central Insurance, IGI Insurance followed them, off Rs4.50 to Rs5 and so did many others.
All was not than bad on the broader market as some of the leading shares, notably Clariant Pakistan, Shell Pakistan, Packages, BOC Pakistan, PNSC, EFU Life Insurance and Nestle MilkPak, managed to finish higher by Rs3 to Rs11.50.
Trading volume fell to 502.276m shares from the previous 645m shares but losers maintained a strong lead over the gainers at 285 to 59, with 40 shares holding on to the last levels.
OGDC, topped the list of most actives,easy 10 paisa at Rs68.70 after at one stage, falling to Rs66 on 127m shares followed by PTCL, up 35 paisa at Rs43.35 on 62m shares, Hub-Power, higher 75 paisa at Rs35 on 40m shares, Lucky Cement, off 85 paisa at Rs37.35 on 37m shares, Fauji Cement, lower 65 paisa at Rs15.35 on 25m shares and DG Khan Cement, off Rs2.80 at Rs55.35 on 21m shares.
Other actives were led by Fauji Fertilizer, up 30 paisa on 25m shares, National Bank, off Rs3.45 on 18m shares, Chakwal Cement, lower 60 paisa on 16m shares and PIAC, off Rs1.20 on 13m shares.
FORWARD COUNTER: PTCL came in for active support and rose by 15 paisa at Rs43.25 on 7m shares followed by Hub-Power, higher 80 paisa at Rs35 on 4m shares, Sui Northern Gas, lower 40 paisa at Rs66.85 on 3m shares, PSO, off Rs2.25 at Rs268.15 on 2m shares and Fauji Fertilizer, steady 25 paisa at Rs126.25 also on 2m shares.
DEFAULTER COS: Trading on this counter was relatively slow in the absence of buyers owing partly to selling in the ready section. Standard Investment Bank and Unity Modaraba were exceptions, off 40 and five paisa respectively at Rs8.75 and Rs1.50 on 0.149m and 0.113m shares.
DIVIDEND: Fauji Fertilizer, first interim 32.5 per cent, OGDC, second interim 17.5 per cent, MCB, interim 10 per cent.
